Map
The Picton map
Every place on this site with a location. Pins are approximate — good for finding your way, not for navigation. Toggle groups, tap a pin for the page.
Photo: Schwede66 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Pins are approximate locations from OpenStreetMap — enough to find your way, not for navigation. Map loads when scrolled into view.
Everything on the map, as a list
Nearest the ferry terminal first (straight line).
Edwin Fox Maritime Museum
An 1853 teak sailing ship in dry dock on the waterfront — one of the oldest surviving merchant hulls anywhere.
The Coastal Pacific train
The seasonal scenic train between Picton, Blenheim, Kaikōura and Christchurch.
Picton Foreshore
The lawn, the palms, the marina and the war memorial — where the town meets the water, and where everything starts.
Picton Heritage & Whaling Museum
Two thousand items of Māori, whaling and maritime history, on the site of the original Waitohi pā.
Scenic and wildlife cruises
Out into Queen Charlotte Sound by boat — the mail run, Motuara Island, dolphins and seals.
Sea kayaking
Guided half-days to multi-day trips, or hire a kayak and go, from the London Quay waterfront.
Water taxis
Everyday transport in the Sounds — to the track, to the lodges, to bays with no road.
Wine tours from Picton
Guided minivan tours to the Wairau Valley cellar doors, with pick-up in Picton.
Foreshore to Shelly Beach
Ten minutes from the waterfront, over the Coathanger Bridge, to a small beach.
Picton Library
The town's modern library and service centre, on High Street.
Shelly Beach
The small beach ten minutes' walk from the foreshore, at the edge of Victoria Domain.
Queen Charlotte Drive
The slow, scenic road from Picton toward Havelock and Nelson, with lookouts over the Grove Arm.
Victoria Domain
200 hectares of bush between Picton and Waikawa, with over 20 km of walking and mountain-bike tracks.
Mountain biking
A 13-trail network in Victoria Domain a few minutes from town, and the Queen Charlotte Track Great Ride beyond it.
Tirohanga Track
The climb from the edge of town to a hilltop lookout over Picton.
The Link Pathway
A 42 km walk-or-bike pathway from Picton to Havelock through the inner Sounds — or just its easy first section.
Cruise ships in Picton
Two cruise berths, October to April: Waimahara Wharf for the big ships, Waitohi Wharf in town for the smaller ones.
Lower Bob's Bay Track
Half an hour along the cliffs from Shelly Beach to a bush-fringed bay.
Upper Bob's Bay Track
The high route into Bob's Bay from Victoria Domain Loop Road.
Bob's Bay
A bush-fringed bay you can only walk to — half an hour from Shelly Beach.
Kaipūpū Sanctuary
A fenced, predator-controlled peninsula ten minutes from the foreshore by water taxi, with a 2.7 km loop track.
Essons Valley: Barnes Dam Track
The longer of the two dam walks up the valley behind town.
Essons Valley: Humphries Dam Track
A valley walk from the Garden Terrace car park to the old town water-supply dam.
Ngakuta Bay
A calm, bush-fringed bay with a beach on Queen Charlotte Drive, on the Link Pathway.
Picton to Waikawa Track
The easy, dog-friendly walk between Picton and the next bay.
Fishing charters
Skippered fishing trips out of Picton and Waikawa, gear supplied.
Sailing charters
Bareboat or skippered yachts from Waikawa Marina into the Sounds.
Waikawa Bay
The next bay north of Picton, home to Waikawa Marina and the Te Ātiawa community that moved here in 1850.
The Snout Track
The classic Picton walk: along the headland between the two marinas to a lookout, then on to the point.
Momorangi Bay
A fully serviced DOC campsite on Queen Charlotte Drive, 25 minutes from Picton, with a playground on the reserve.
Karaka Point Historic Reserve
A headland lookout beyond the Snout on the road to Whatamango Bay.
Whatamango Bay
A DOC campsite bay 10 km east of Picton on Port Underwood Road — about 15 minutes from the ferry.
Scenic flights
The Sounds from above — fixed-wing from Picton Aerodrome at Koromiko, helicopters from Blenheim.
Anakiwa
The road-accessible southern end of the Queen Charlotte Track, with a car park, shelter and toilets.
Havelock
The small town at the head of Pelorus Sound / Te Hoiere, at the far end of the Link Pathway.
Blenheim and the Marlborough wine region
New Zealand's largest wine region — nearly 31,000 hectares of vines — starts half an hour south of Picton.
Queen Charlotte Track
73.5 km of ridgeline and bay from Meretoto / Ship Cove to Anakiwa — walked in 3–5 days, ridden in 2–3, or sampled in a day by water taxi.
Meretoto / Ship Cove
Cook's anchorage on all three voyages, New Zealand's first historic reserve, and the start of the Queen Charlotte Track.
Motuara Island
A predator-free bird sanctuary in the outer sound — saddleback, robin and kākāriki — with a lookout tower on its 128 m summit.
Diving and the Mikhail Lermontov
The largest diveable cruise-ship wreck in New Zealand waters lies in Port Gore, off the outer Sounds.
Kaikōura
The whale-watching coast, about two hours south — on the Coastal Pacific line and the InterCity route.